Back Home To Spokane

A volcano erupted in Iceland the day we arrived, almost the moment we arrived. It was not a factor for us and we could not see it from Reykjavik. However, a couple days before our scheduled departure from Iceland on July 21st Sheila began seeing notices of numerous delays and cancellations of flights out of the country. Luckily for us, on the 21st there were no delays and cancellations. I say luckily because the world  of travel has become a bit punitive towards those things. If our Iceland flight to Seattle did not land in time for us to make our Seattle to Spokane connecting flight, then It would have cost us $100 to change that flight. And, the only reason we would have been able to change the connecting flight without forfeiting everything I paid is because I paid for upgraded tickets on the Alaska Airline flight.

We left the apartment in Reykjavik at 7am, got a ride to the bus station where we took the bus to the airport. We felt as if we were at the airport at 8:15 in plenty of time for our 10:35 departure. Time kept ticking away as we stood in several lines to check bags, get boarding passes, and 2 different security checks. Ultimately, we got to our boarding gate exactly at the beginning of the moment to begin boarding. It was a little stressful. I think that is simply the new world of travel, in most places. More regulations and requirements exist than ever before, and at least for Europe, more are on the way. It makes travel less joyous for me. My hope is that Mexico has retained the simplicity it had earlier this year.

Landing in Seattle, the process to get in the country through customs, and begin the process of getting on the Alaska Airlines flight was simple! Ahh, but then things began to slow.  Not that it mattered as our flight departed more than half an hour late. We easily could have made that up (as the captain promised we would) if not for beginning our descent somewhere on the plains in the vicinity of Davenport. Our descent took more than 30 minutes as we lazily drifted south of Spokane then over the Valley and downtown before landing. Upon landing we sat on a runway for about 10 minutes before taxiing to a gate. None of that is particularly important but I point it out to illuminate some of the seeming inanities of plane travel. We were about 40 minutes late by the time we got to the baggage carousel in the newly expanded Spokane airport. That mattered to the person who picked us up and expected us to be on time, because we expected to be on time. In Europe we developed a very strong bias for the leisurely quality of train travel. At any rate, I find myself hoping Mexico has retained its unique predilection for friendly helpfulness and efficiency we experienced earlier this year. We expect to be back to Mexico this winter.

Spokane appears to be cleaner than when we were here in April. That includes the downtown area and overall. We have made a habit of walking each morning, in our neighborhood and beyond. We don’t want to get out of the habit of several miles a day. Additionally, just like in cities that are new to us, it gives us the opportunity to get a close up view of our surroundings. One thing I notice is that a lot more lawns have brown grass than in the past. I do not blame people for allowing this to happen. The city has a somewhat punitive system for “excess” water use. Without judging the validity of that, I understand people may not want to pay to have a green law and consequently decide it might as well be brown.

One of the things I began to pay a lot of attention to in Europe was sculptures. It feels fair to resume that practice here in Spokane.

People have felt fairly upbeat and friendly as I walk around town and stop in cafes, the gym and stores. Sometimes it is difficult to know where the difference lies. I feel more positive about Spokane than I did in April. We felt particularly blessed to return to two rainy 70 something degree days. Now I am hoping we can keep the 90 degree days to a minimum and eliminate 100 degree days.